182 AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIMENT. 



time we would visit these demonstrators, and encourage them in 

 their work. We would call the people together, and by word and 

 deed bring them to see the advantages to be gained by an effort 

 to improve. By shows and competitions we would introduce a 

 spirit of emulation, and stir up their interest, till each of these- 

 places became the centre of life and uplift for the locality. I 

 hope that, where to-day there is encountered apathy and super- 

 stitious conservatism, there will in time be found keenness and 

 freedom for progress : that where to-day the suspicious and 

 reactionary chief or headman forbids all innovation, in time 

 those very men, or their successors, will be in the forefront of the 

 march towards progress and improvement. The power of such 

 men must not be despised. In Native life it is a very real force. 

 It cannot be coerced. But by steady and persistent instruction, 

 illuminated by successful undertakings encouraged by the Govern- 

 ment, their hostility may be changed to friendliness, and their 

 opposition to support. It is only by carrying out this experiment 

 among them, in the conditions to which they are accustomed, and 

 with the materials with which they are familiar, that such improve- 

 ment can be brought about; and it is only by direct Government 

 participation and encouragement that the mass of the people can 

 be touched. 



